Imagine Burger King sponsoring a movie in which a lead character is told to choose any food in the world and asks for a Big Mac. Then you’ll understand why Apple computer users are miffed.

In May, Apple Computer launched a multimillion-dollar marketing tie-in with Tom Cruise’s "Mission: Impossible." It featured Mr. Cruise in its TV and print ads, created a web site for the movie and even cosponsored its premiere.

Apple executives say they are pleased with the public reaction to their "brand-energizing" campaign. But techno-savvy moviegoers are baffled by the short shrift given Apple in the film.

It’s true that Mr. Cruise spends a fair amount of screen time hunched over an Apple PowerBook laptop. Yet neither Apple’s logo nor its familiar Macintosh interface appear on his computer. Mr. Cruise uses a clunky custom interface that requires him to type in commands rather than clicking on an icon. Thus, the Apple connection is lost on most moviegoers.

Worse, during a scene in which Mr. Cruise and his team are planning a break-in at the CIA, their computer expert insists the caper depends on obtaining "Thinking Machines laptops," with nary a mention of Apples. But Thinking Machines Corp. has never made laptops — or anything much smaller than supercomputers.

The mistakes — not to mention the perceived slight to Apple — provoked plenty of buzz on the Internet among Mac fanciers. "I don’t know what Apple was thinking when they agreed to letting this travesty of a movie use their products," griped one. "I think Apple got a raw deal," posted another.

Apple signed up as the movie’s sponsor too late to have any influence over the script. But it hasn’t fared much better since the movie’s release. Not long after announcing the tie-in, Apple had to recall thousands of defective PowerBooks. "The irony of this is that if you were sucked in by the web site and the commercials, you couldn’t even buy [a PowerBook] because there aren’t any in stores," says Geoff Duncan, an editor of the Mac newsletter TidBITS.

Meanwhile, because of design quirks in Apple’s "Mission: Impossible" web site (http://www.missionimpossible.com), some Mac computers have crashed when users visit. "Is an Intel machine required here?" sniped George McClelland of Roanoke, Va., after his Mac went down. "Is this a good ad for Apple?"